Camp HalfBlood: The Bow and Lyre of Apollo
by Morwen Tindomerel
Summary: Xander, Laurel and Helice are all children of Apollo. They and three of their siblings get quests in the Summer of the 'Lightning Thief'.
1. We watch the Cable Channel of the Gods

Every summer our mom drives us to our dad's house in Malibu so he can take us to camp. Sounds pretty normal doesn't it? Lots of kids have parents who are separated and millions go to summer camp – even special camps all the way across the country.

I wish. There is _nothing_ normal about my life, and it's because of my dad; you see he's Apollo. Yeah, the golden haired god of the sun, of music, of poetry, of medicine and prophecy – he's a busy guy my dad. He's also got an eye for the ladies. Remember Daphne, Cassandra, Coronis, etc.? Well I'm happy to say my mom did a lot better than any of them. After Dad left her she embarked on a new career as priestess of Apollo, healer and seer. Since this is Southern California – land of fruit and nuts - she's done real well for herself and us. But at least she's not a phony like all the other gurus, channelers, and Neo-pagans kicking around L.A. I mean Dad is real – and tickled to death at having worshippers again - and Mom's powers are real too. She can cure diseases and see the future, a little farewell present from Dad. Like my brother Xander and me. My name is Laurel, after Dad's favorite tree.

Mom dropped us off around three in the afternoon and we went down the steps from the driveway to the back door. There's nothing ancient or Greek about Dad's beach house on the Malibu bluffs, it's all sharp angles and big plate glass windows looking west over the ocean. Our sister Helice was already there, sitting on the deck in a white bikini. Her mother is Manda Golden. Yeah, _the_ Manda Golden, star of 'A Touch of Venus'. Manda's a demigoddess too, a daughter of Aphrodite and the only adult Half-Blood I've ever met. Of course she's gorgeous and so is Helice. I don't exactly crack mirrors but compared to her I'm an ugly duckling who will never make swan. Having different mothers we don't look anything alike – unfortunately – except we're all blonds and we all have golden hazel eyes.

Xander and I changed into bathing suits and we all went swimming from Dad's private beach. Then back up to the house where the fridge – as usual – was stocked with sodas and the freezer with ice cream. We got the goodies then settled down in the living room to watch Hephaestus TV – the cable channel of the gods – on Dad's flat-screen.

Switched on it was immediately filled with a close-up of Uncle Hephaestus' gargoyle like face with his mouth stretched in a wide grin, "Gotcha!" he crowed.

"Great, I love this show!" said Xander. Helice groaned. _Gotcha_ is sort of divine _Candid_ _Camera_ but always with the same targets; Ares and Helice's grandmother Aphrodite. As you probably know if you know anything about mythology Ares and Aphrodite have been having an affair for about three thousand years now and Hephaestus, Aphrodite's husband, gets his revenge by arranging embarrassing traps for them. Helice closed her eyes. She really doesn't enjoy watching her grandmother being humiliated. Xander and I don't have a problem with it.

"Coming to you live from the Waterland Thrill-ride of Love. Ares and Aphrodite go boating!" Hephaestus yodeled. His face vanished to be replaced by water foaming into a concrete pool. A boat bobbed to the surface. It was one of those two person theme-park boats all pink and white and decorated with little hearts. It had had a canopy but the water had ripped it away leaving only bent poles and a few scraps of fabric.

There were two very wet people in it but - "That doesn't look like Ares and Aphrodite to me," I said.

Helice opened one eye, then both very wide. "Wait a minute, isn't that Annabeth?"

Annabeth is a girl from camp, counselor of Athena cabin. It was hard to be sure with wet hair plastered over a face distorted by screaming but it sure did look like her.

"Who's the guy?" Xander asked scooting closer to the screen for a better look.

Nobody knew. He and Annabeth clutched at each other, both screaming for all they were worth, as the little boat ricocheted through the 'Thrill-ride of Love' spinning in whirlpools, plunging over waterfalls and scraping paint at hairpin turns.

"Whoo-hoo!" said Xander.

"Oh no!" cried Helice.

I was with her. The end of the ride hove into sight and it was bad. The golden gates of love had been chained and padlocked and were further blocked by the smashed remains of two other boats. "They'll be killed!"

"Hephaestus won't let that happen," Xander said, but uncertainly.

Hephaestus is one of the nicer gods, despite his looks, but he couldn't be happy at having his trap tripped by a couple of Half-bloods and might not see fit to help them. Luckily they didn't need help. Annabeth and the boy unbuckled their seatbelts and stood shakily, holding on to each other for support. The boy I noticed had a familiar looking shield on his arm. Just as their boat hit the wreckage of the others they jumped right over the padlocked gates.

"They've overshot the pool!" yelled Xander.

Helice closed her eyes again and I was about to when something swooped down and grabbed them.

"You can look," said Xander.

"Who or what is that?" I demanded.

"A flying satyr?" Helice wondered.

All three of them continued falling towards the asphalt but slowly, spiraling like a crashing plane. They plowed into one of those plaster-board walls painted with cartoon characters with holes you can stick your face through. The satyr's head went right through the top hole but Annabeth and her boyfriend hit the wall and then the asphalt, luckily not hard enough to get hurt. We all breathed sighs of relief. Annabeth's kind of a know it all but she comes by it honestly, being a daughter of the goddess of wisdom, and she's a really good teacher. I've taken both her mythological history and knife fighting classes.

The angle of the picture changed suddenly and lights hit them as they extracted their flying satyr friend from the photo-board. "Hey, isn't that Grover?" Xander asked.

"Okay," I said. "They're doomed."

"Laurel," Helice gave me this shocked look. "That's not very nice!"

Before I could answer the boy on the screen shouted; "Show's over! Thank you! Good night!" All three of them waved and the scene switched to a puzzled looking Hephaestus. "Well…That wasn't quite the Gotcha! I had in mind but let's hear a round of applause for our pair of plucky Half-Bloods and their satyr companion. The studio audience obliged as Hephaestus beckoned to one of his automaton assistants. They whispered together for a moment then the god straightened up and waved the audience to silence. "Ah, yes. I'm told that our unexpected stars are Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena -"

"Knew it," said Helice.

"- satyr Grover Underwood -"

"Those kids are _so_ dead," I said.

"- and Percy Jackson the son of Poseidon."

"Whaaa!" we all said together.

Lots of gods and goddesses have kids with mortals. So many that we Half-bloods even have a special training camp set up for us. But about sixty years ago the Big Three; Zeus, Hades and Poseidon, agreed not to have any more demigod children because of the trouble they cause – like World War II. We all knew Zeus broke his oath seventeen years ago. Now it looked like Poseidon had too.

"Great, just great," said Xander disgustedly.

"So that's what Zeus and Poseidon have been fighting about," I muttered. Things were pretty quiet out here on the west coast – well away from Olympus – but I'd read about the weird and violent weather in the northeast and more importantly I'd been having dreams about my grandfather Zeus and great uncle Poseidon at each other's throats.

"I wonder what they're doing away from camp," Helice frowned. And you know she had a good point there. Annabeth lives at Camp Half-Blood year round. Had she and Grover been sent to bring this Percy kid in? And if so what had Chiron been thinking? Seeing what had happened last time Grover was the _last_ satyr to send!

"Maybe Dad'll know something," Xander looked at his watch. "He should be here soon."

We turned off the TV, threw the empty cans and ice cream wrappers in the recycle bin and changed into jeans and t-shirts then sat down at the dining room table to wait. Red sunlight streamed through the big windows as the orange sun dipped its toes in the Pacific. The swinging doors to the kitchen burst open and Dad ran lightly up the steps then stopped to beam us one of his whiter-than-white not quite maniacal smiles.

Being a Half-blood is not the greatest thing in the world, in fact most of the time it really sucks, but that doesn't mean we don't love our dad. As gods go Apollo is a really great father. He does right by our mothers, pays child support if it's needed and gives us the most terrific gifts; magic arrows, healing powers, musical instruments that can play three part harmonies, that sort of thing. Best of all he's _available_. I mean if you want to see him all you have to do is step outside and look up.

Being a god Apollo can look any way he wants to but for us he likes to look old enough to be a dad but not _old_. Tall and tanned with casually tousled blond hair and golden eyes – like the sun. He was wearing a yellow polo shirt, with a little sun on the chest instead of the usual logo, and khaki trousers and he had a pair of sunglasses shoved up on his forehead. "Well if it isn't my favorite son and daughters," he said like he always does, "ready for another thrilling summer at Camp Half-Blood?"

"Sure!" "Yeah," "I guess," we answered as usual, little knowing just _how_ thrilling this summer was going to be.

"Great! Let's eat."

Here's something I bet you didn't know – the god of the sun, poetry, music, etc. is a terrific cook. Of course Dad could just snap his fingers and magic up a feast but he prefers to do it the mortal way – it's more creative. And I kind of suspect it's also one of his ways of spending quality time with his kids as of course we have to help.

"Dad," Xander said, waiting for the water to boil for the rice, "did you see 'Gotcha!' this afternoon?"

Dad went right on chopping chicken but I saw his face change. "Yeah, I caught it on my _eta_-pad. Ares must be getting smarter."

"So Poseidon's fallen off the wagon too and I'm guessing Zeus is steamed about it?" Xander went on.

Helice was shelling water chestnuts. "With all respect to our grandfather he's not exactly in a position to criticize is he?"

Dad sighed and stopped chopping. "There's more to it - unfortunately." He looked at me. "You've been dreaming haven't you?"

I nodded. Mom isn't the only one in our family with prophetic powers – unfortunately. "Something really bad has happened, something that's put Granddad and Uncle Poseidon at each other's throats."

"This is top secret info, kids," Dad warned. We nodded and he went on; "The master bolt is missing, it disappeared at the last council. Zeus has suspected Poseidon all along and thinks Percy's existence clinches it."

We all understood. One god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power. But a Half-blood hero can pretty much do anything he has the nerve to try. Poseidon _could _have snuck Percy into Olympus and had him steal the lightning bolt to end all lightning bolts.

Xander shook his head. "I don't believe it. I mean I know Granddad and Uncle Poseidon have a real sibling rivalry going but Uncle wouldn't cross the line like that, he just wouldn't." We'd met our great uncle Poseidon once and we'd liked him. He and Granddad both have serious tempers but deep down the two of them are just too responsible to upset things in such a major way. I mean a war between two of the top gods would be a _disaster_. It could ruin Olympus _and_ waste western civilization. Neither Zeus nor Poseidon would risk that. They just wouldn't.

"I agree with you, Xander," Dad was saying. "But there's another possibility. My father has two brothers."

_Hades?_ I gulped. Oh gods, that was possible. Hades has been angry and resentful ever since he got stuck with the underworld back at the beginning. In a way you couldn't blame him, I mean who wants to live surrounded by ghosts and zombies? _He_ wouldn't care if the upper world was thrown into chaos. I mean the more people who die the better for him – right?

Helice was as pale as I felt - her tan had gone all tarnished. "You really think –" she couldn't finish.

Dad nodded, looking serious which is unusual for him. "I foresee the answer lies in the west. That's got to mean Hades –"

Just then the rice boiled over and we had to pay attention to our cooking again.


	2. A Day With Dad

Dad likes cooking by hand but there is nothing creative about clean up afterwards and he is happy to use his powers there. We left the dishes washing themselves and followed Dad up the steps to the driveway and garage dragging our camp trunks behind us.

Needless to say Dad no longer drives a _quadriga_ (a four horse chariot) across the skies. Chariots are _sooo_ over as he says. These days the 'sun chariot' is a bright red sports car except when he drives us to camp or back when he turns it into a bright red SUV with plenty of room for us and our luggage.

Dad backed out of the driveway, turned left and drove right off the bluff sailing over the peaceful Pacific following the fading track of the setting sun. I know it sound like we were going in the wrong direction – Camp Half-Blood being on Long Island _east_ of Malibu – but the sun chariot only goes one way; west. Luckily, since the earth is round if you go west far enough you end up in the east.

We chased the sunrise across the pacific, stopping for lunch in Kyoto Japan. Dad is _obsessed_ with all things Japanese; the food, the customs, and unfortunately the poetic forms. Since Dad is the god of _western_ poetry he isn't very good at haiku but he's not half as bad as he lets on, stinky-rotten poetry being a great way to annoy the other Olympians. You want to talk dysfunctional families? I give you the gods!

We Apollonians on the other hand are pretty darned functional all things considered. There are mortal fathers who pay less attention to their kids than Dad. I mean Helice, Xander and I get to spend a whole day with him twice a year travelling to and from Camp and the other kids in our cabin all have their days too, just different ones. He does the best he can being what he is – and what we are.

Spending time with Dad is lots of fun. We went to our favorite traditional restaurant on a back street near the Imperial Palace and ordered _fugu_ a delicious but highly poisonous Japanese fish that can kill you if it isn't prepared just right. Not that we had any worries, we were having lunch with the god of healing after all. Dad and Xander like to gross out Helice and me by eating their _fugu_ raw, we prefer ours deep fried.

Dad conjured up four 'ambrosia on a stick' for dessert – just in case. Mine tasted like Rocky-road ice cream, delicious! We took a walk in the Imperial gardens while we were eating them and made up haikus about the scenery.

"_Blue the sky above; The lake below is as blue -"_ I began, "Darn, what next?" I cogitated frantically; "Got it! _Green the land between."_

"Very good, Laurel," Dad approved, "Let me see…. _Green the nodding reed; The lotus blossom floating; Blue as sky above."_

A duck looking for its lunch inspired Xander._"Splash the diving bird; Shatters the crystal stillness; silver fish struggles." _

"_Carefree the waterbird;" _Dad responded. _"burdened with cares I; Which is the wiser?"_

"The bird, definitely the bird," I said.

Helice squinted upward. _"All lands beholding; The golden eye of the sun; Never knows sorrowful tears." _

Dad grimaced at that. "Not entirely true, sweetheart; _God knowing no rest; Light that shows all fair and foul; Troubles beyond ken."_

There was a serious silence. "Are things that bad, Dad?" Xander asked at last.

"I don't like what I'm seeing," he answered quietly. "A pattern is forming, an old and dangerous pattern." He shrugged off his unwonted gravity. "Still, look on the bright side; I could be wrong. It's happened, not often but it has happened!"

…

We got back into the sun chariot and followed the sunrise across Asia and Europe. The Atlantic was covered with unseasonable storms. Granddad and Uncle Poseidon were still at it. No wonder Dad was worried.

We landed at his Long Island compound between five and six am Eastern Standard Time. Back in the olden days Dad had palaces of gold in the farthest east and west. These days he has the Malibu beach house, a twenty odd acre estate on Orient Point, and an East Side apartment in the City.

The Long Island house is much larger than the Malibu one. According to Manda, who occasionally gets invited there, Dad uses it to give house parties for the gods and selected demigods and nature spirits. We made pancakes for breakfast and ate them on the patio which naturally led to a morning dip in the nearby pool.

Yes we had been up all night, but children of Apollo don't get tired as long as the sun is shining. It energizes us, which is kind of hard on our mothers but no problem at all for Dad.

Like I said we get to spend the whole day with him – 24 hours. The swim was followed by a jam session in the music room and then we ate popcorn and watched the third season of '_Hercules Busts Heads'_. Dad has the whole series on tape. These days Hephaestus television is all reality shows like '_Gotcha'_. We didn't start for camp until nearly seven o'clock. We had dinner at the Marina restaurant before going aboard Dad's motor yacht for the short trip across the Sound to the Southern Fork where the camp is. Dad moored the _Phaethon_ in the mouth of Half-Blood River and helped us get our trunks ashore.

Then came the always awkward moment when we had to say good-bye. Dad may be the god of eloquence but he falls down miserably on these occasions, we like to think because he cares so much. Honestly, I really believe he'd _love_ to have all of us _and _our mothers to live with him on Olympus. But of course it would never work. It would be awful for our moms and it wouldn't be good for us either. Gods are gods and mortals are mortals and we half-bloods are where the twain meet – meaning we don't quite belong in either world.

"Well," Dad said playing Captain Obvious, "here we are. Have a good summer. I'll see you at the end of August." Then he kissed Helice and me and shook Xander's hand. We picked up our trunk handles and headed towards the cabins. Suddenly Dad called after us; "Great Zeus! I almost forgot. Tell Lee I'm going to set some quests for my cabin this year."

We stopped in our tracks turning to stare at him. He was standing on the _Phaethon's_ foredeck, illuminated by the bridge lights. "Chiron doesn't allow quests anymore," Xander called back.

Dad flashed the pearly whites. "I think you'll find that's all changed now. So if somebody should ask you to be their companion say yes, all right?"

"Sure!" Of course we wanted to go on a quest – everybody did. I mean what's the point of being a hero if you don't kill monsters and collect magical weapons?

We followed the river southward towards the canoe lake and the cabins. The sing-along should have started but the amphitheater on the other side of the river was dark and quiet. The cabins were all lit up and the bonfire burning in the center of the commons but nobody was sitting around it. Everybody seemed to be sticking close to their own cabins with none of the usual mixing.

"Something's wrong," Xander said inheriting Dad's role as Captain Obvious.

"We know that," Helice pointed out.

"Yeah but Dad said it was top secret," I reminded her.

"Not any more I guess," said Xander.

Some of Apollo's kids were shooting baskets in front of Cabin Seven. A few more of our siblings were sitting on the steps watching, they made way for us and we went inside. Dad's cabin is the absolute coolest at camp – although I got to admit the other kids all claim that _theirs_ is. Anyway Seven is just perfect for children of Apollo.

The floor and columns, six on each side, were white marble and the ceiling was of gold with big skylights. There's a marble statue of Dad playing the electric guitar at the far end and the aisles behind the pillars are divided into little individual spaces each with a bunk and a nightstand. The middle part has a baby grand piano and a long table covered with musical scores, fiddles and flutes, guitars and lyres, and piles of books. The acoustics are fantastic. Cabin Seven is pretty much the best music studio ever but nobody seemed to be enjoying it tonight. A few people were plunking at stringed instruments, a few more writing scores or poems at the worktable and there was a game of darts going on at the back but everybody looked distracted and worried.

Lee Fletcher, our cabin counselor, came over to welcome us. "What's going on?" I asked. The vibes I was getting were really awful. Things were seriously bad.

By the look on his face Lee agreed. "There's trouble on Olympus, Zeus and Poseidon have fallen out big time. The gods are choosing up sides and so are their kids."

We didn't say a word. Top secret is top secret. It was very likely that Dad had told Lee too, and maybe some of the others as well, but the whole reason he tells us sensitive stuff is because he _knows_ we won't repeat it, even to each other.

"Who are we siding with?" Xander wanted to know.

Lee sort of sighed. "Poseidon, Dad's with the Earthshaker meaning we are too. So far Ares and Aphrodite have lined up behind him too."

Xander, Helice and I all made faces at being on the same side as Ares' kids. "Xander and me like Poseidon," I said.

"So does Dad," said Lee. "So far only Athena's officially lined up on Granddad's side but there's no way Hephaestus will side with Ares. Nobody knows where Hermes stands yet, or Demeter, and Mr. D isn't talking. Aunt Artemis will go with Dad of course. Knowing Hera she's not takings sides but trying to calm everybody down."

Our great-aunt and step-grandmother isn't the nicest goddess around, probably because she's spent the last five thousand years trying to keep the peace on Olympus. That would make anybody pretty cranky. "Good luck to her," I said.

"Yeah," Lee agreed.


	3. Bad Vibrations

The vibes were no better the next morning. Cabins walked to breakfast in tight clumps keeping a good distance from each other. There was none of the usual goofing off as we sat down. People were too busy watching the other tables to even talk to their siblings. It was really uncomfortable. If this kept up I was going to talk to Dad about going home early.

We never see Mr. D at breakfast, which is good as he is an unappetizing sight at any time but at his worst in the mornings. Chiron came up from the Big House with what was obviously a new camper; you could tell by the bugging eyes.

"Good morning, children," Chiron said with rather forced good humor. "Before we begin breakfast allow me to introduce our newest camper, Damon Sunne -" he broke off, derailed mid-speech, as a blazing golden lyre appeared above the kid's head. "Ah – yes. Ahem, it is determined. Hail Damon Sunne, son of Phoebus Apollo, charioteer of the sun, lord of bow and lyre, god of oracles." Chiron bowed his upper body doing a sort of deep knee bend with his forelegs while the rest of us got off our benches and bowed too.

Damon looked confused and embarrassed like kids always do when claimed. Lee went over to table twelve to collect our new brother and bring him back to our own table. We were glad to have him. Not only is a new sibling always welcome but introducing everybody, explaining about sacrifices and answering his questions helped distract us from the tension in the air. Damon was twelve years old. His blond hair was so dark as to be almost brown and worn long. His eyes were golden hazel which got my interest right off.

Just about all gods' kids have a distinguishing mark letting you know who their parent is. Athena's kids are all gray eyed for example and Hermes' kids have that elfish look with tilted eyebrows and upturned noses. Apollo's children are always blonds, ranging from whitish to reddish, but some have sky blue eyes and others golden and nobody knows why. Most don't think it means anything in particular but I'm not so sure.

Breakfast ended and kids headed in all directions, still sticking tightly to their own cabins. Lee said; "The first volleyball league game is tonight, us against Hephaestus and Dionysus." The two cabins combine because neither has enough campers to make a team, "So everybody down to the court for practice, except for Xander. You give Damon here the grand tour, okay?"

My brother nodded. He and the new kid peeled off at the cabins but the rest of us went on to the volleyball pit by the Big House. I have no idea why volleyball is the one modern sport officially embraced by Camp Half-Blood but it is. The championship trophy has been prominently displayed in Cabin Seven for maybe the last decade, give or take a year or three. But it doesn't do to get complacent so we practice like demons every year.

…..

Meanwhile Xander gave our new brother the grand tour; chariot track, arena, armory, the stables, then across the river to the amphitheater and climbing wall. Like most first time campers Damon was nervous and talked continuously: "I'm seeing all this but I don't believe it. How can Dad be some old Greek god? I've stayed at his apartment. He's never missed a recital!"

Xander grinned crookedly. "Look up."

"What?"

"Look up at the sun."

Damon did. And saw what every child of Apollo sees when he or she looks at the sun; Dad in his red Maserati. As usual Dad looked back and waved. The poor little kid stood there mouth flapping, a hand half raised to wave back.

Xander nudged him. "Hey, earth to Damon."

He swallowed hard and put down his hand. "A Maserati?" was the first thing out of his mouth.

"A golden chariot's too old fashioned. Dad's a cutting edge kind of god."

"Oh. Uh, could we sit down a minute?"

"Sure" Luckily they were at the amphitheater so there were plenty of places to sit. "I know it's a shock," Xander said sympathetically. "But we're lucky in Cabin Seven, Dad's real attentive – more so than a god should be strictly speaking but he's Granddad's favorite son so he gets away with it."

"Granddad…" Damon echoed. "You mean – Zeus?"

Xander nodded, "The big guy himself." Thunder grumbled and he looked upward. "Come on, I mean it respectfully!"

"He heard you?" Damon asked round eyed.

"Yeah, the gods tend to listen when you say their names so we don't throw them around casually here. It's better to just say the Thunderer or Lord of the Sky. Granddad's not in a great mood at the moment. He and his brother, the god of the sea, have had a pretty serious falling out." Xander hesitated, he didn't want to scare the kid but he had to know or he could get in trouble. "You may have noticed there's a lot of tension in the air. The gods are beginning to take sides – which means we are too."

"Whose side are we on?" Now Damon looked worried, and who could blame him?

Xander sighed, "The Earthshaker's. But really the last thing any of us want is trouble on Olympus."

…..

Which by coincidence was exactly what Del was saying to me up at the Big House, practice was over and we were all sitting on the porch outside the camp store drinking sodas and cooling down. Del is my second favorite brother and it's too bad he _is_ my brother because he's awfully good looking, real Greek godish with tight blond curls all over his head and golden eyes. He also has a terrific tan from living in Florida. His mother runs an island hopping air service down there.

"There's not much that we can do about what happens up on Olympus," I pointed out.

"I know," Del answered gloomily. "Word is if Annabeth and Percy succeed on this quest things will settle down. I sure hope so. Goose Air can't survive another hurricane season like this last one!"

"But why take _Grover_ of all satyrs?" I complained.

"Grover's a nice guy," our sister Threnody butted in. For some reason a lot of the girls in camp feel sorry for Grover Underwood. Me, I feel sorry for Thalia Daughter of Zeus – who wants to live their life as a tree?

"I know he's nice, but he's not lucky," I argued. "I mean maybe it wasn't his fault but his last mission was like a catastrophe!"

"Yeah, and Annabeth was on that one too. I guess _she_ doesn't think Grover's bad luck." Threnody shot back.

"Or she's gone soft in the head." I grumbled.

Threnody always reminds me of our Aunt Artemis. She's about the age Artemis choses to be and has long red-gold hair like hers but unlike Artemis she also has lots and lots of freckles – oh and golden yellow eyes instead of silvery yellow. Threnody's mother is Sassy Jones the Blues singer, who is black but pretty light skinned and Dad's about as white as they come so Threnody gets freckles instead of an even brown complexion. She complains about that a lot, right now though she had more important worries: "This summer hasn't been much fun so far. If Annabeth doesn't come back…."

Nobody wanted to even think about that but it was kind of hard not to.

…

All things considered Chiron probably should have cancelled the volleyball game like he had the sing-along. Gods only know why he didn't. It might have been all right if we'd been playing Ares or Aphrodite or one of the cabins that hadn't taken sides yet instead of Hephaestus which automatically put the two most militant cabins, Ares and Athena, in opposite cheering sections. I didn't see the fight start being intent on the game, Xander and I are always guards because we're tall. The first I knew of it was when Sherman landed in the middle of the net bringing it down as Malcolm threw himself on top of him. Then they both turned into trees, an olive and an oak all tangled together, tearing the net and pinning the shreds to the ground with their roots.

Mr. D had lost his temper meaning it was time to make tracks. "Cabin Seven!" Lee shouted, "Cabin Seven follow me!" I noticed he had Mike Yew in a headlock. The rest of us were more than ready to head back to the cabin but Mike wanted to scrap. Sometimes I think he must have a little Ares in him. I noticed Xander had a hold of the new kid, Damon, too so he wouldn't get lost in the dark beyond the torches lighting up the Volleyball pit. He's a responsible guy my twin.

Safe inside Cabin Seven we watched through the front windows as a harried looking Chiron, assisted by satyrs, sorted out the rest of the campers and shoved them into their own cabins.

"Is it always like this?" Damon asked with his nose glued to the window under Xander's elbow.

"No," Lee answered grimly.


	4. Del Gets A Quest

The next morning the conch failed to sound for breakfast the campers stood around the common, everybody keeping close to their siblings, wondering what was going on. Chiron appeared between Zeus and Hera's cabins wearing an unusually stern expression and followed by a train of nymphs carrying trays.

Usually Chiron is a real softie but last night we'd crossed the line but good. "Please return to your cabins," he said in the steely tone he uses when he's seriously pissed. "Breakfast will be served to you there and you will remain inside until I say differently. Understood?"

We all mumbled that we did and crowded into our cabins, campers followed by three or four nymphs with breakfast trays. Apollo's cabin was lucky to have a table to put them on I wondered how Hermes or Ares cabins – which don't have any furniture aside from bunks – were going to manage.

"Uh, have we just been grounded?" Damon asked after we'd all dropped slices of toast or handfuls of cereal into the brazier in front of Dad's statue and started eating.

"Sure looks like it," Lee answered grimly.

Threnody who was new last year, looked at me. "Has that ever happened before?"

"Not in my time," I answered.

"Or ours," said Wendy and Lee nodded agreement. They've been going to camp longer than any of us, eight years.

Staying inside wasn't a problem for Apollo's cabin, we jammed and then we had a darts tournament, but I shuddered to think what must be going on in the Ares and Hermes cabins. I expected they'd be taking bodies out by lunchtime. It turned out I'd underestimated them. Hermes' Cabin had a great time stealing from each other and Mark Service, the smartest of Ares' kids, organized a slap-down wrestling tournament that kept his siblings happy.

The nymphs had delivered lunch and we'd settled down to a game of Cap That Verse when a satyr knocked on the door and announced Del was wanted at the Big House.

Del was scared; "What, me, why?"

"Yeah," Lee was worried too. "Del didn't so much as throw a punch last night, I can swear to it." Several of us, including me, muttered support.

"Look if it this is about Beckendorf's kneecap I'm the one you're looking for," Mike said getting a number of surprised and impressed looks. Beckendorf is almost twice his size.

The satyr rolled his eyes. "Chiron said to tell you it's got nothing to do with last night. Del isn't in any kind of trouble the director just wants to talk to him."

Chiron wouldn't lie but Mr. D is pretty unpredictable and so we worried. It seemed like forever but finally Del came back. He hadn't been turned into anything but he had a sort of dazed look on his face and sat down on the nearest stool.

"So?" Lee prompted.

He looked up at him. "I got a quest."

There was a moment of stunned silence then cheers and a lot of back slapping. Xander, Helice and I exchanged looks. Apparently none of the others had been warned to expect this – and we'd completely forgotten to tell Lee.

"That's great!" Our counselor was saying. "Nobody's been allowed a quest since Luke nearly bit the big one. What's it for?"

"The golden bow," Del answered, still kind of out of it, "Dad's golden bow."

"Who are you taking with you?" Silvie asked and everybody looked hopeful.

"Laurel," he said immediately, which surprised nobody including me. I'm Del's favorite sister. The only reason he's my second favorite brother is because I have a twin, "And Threnody."

"Me?" our kid sister squeaked.

"You," Del said firmly. "You're in my prophecy."

"Me?" she repeated even squeakier.

"_Athens' goddess the first sign shows,_" Del recited,_ "Then Apollo's foe a maid with tears subdues," _That's got to be you, right?"

Threnody made a face, "Yep, sure sounds like Weepy Girl." She doesn't think much of her power.

Being a multi-tasking kind of god gives Dad a wide assortment of powers to grant his kids. Musical talent, marksmanship and healing are pretty much givens but some of us have additional abilities. Both Threnody and Helice for example have voice magic. Helice can hit notes that shatter celestial bronze and knock people cold but Threnody's voice moves listeners to tears, which is much less cool.

"What's the rest?" I asked.

"_After a hecatomb to Apollo the quester brings; The Fates offer the final choice to win or lose._ Not exactly deathless poetry," Del grimaced.

"It never is," Lee answered then said the prophecy all through:

"_Athens' goddess the first sign shows_

_Then Apollo's foe a maid with tears subdues_

_After a hecatomb to Apollo the quester brings_

_The Fates offer the final choice to win or lose."_

"What's a hecatomb anyway?" Del wanted to know.

I could answer that one; "An offering of cattle."

"Dad wants cows?"

"Dad _has_ cows," said Wendy, "the red cattle of the sun. You remember, from the _Iliad_."

"So he wants us to find some and sacrifice them to him?" Del asked me.

I could only shrug. The gods have pretty much gone off blood sacrifices these days and I kind of doubted Dad wanted to bring them back but as to what else 'hecatomb' could mean I hadn't a clue.

"Don't worry about that now," Will, another of our elder brothers, advised. "This sign Athena's got may make the prophecy clearer."

"So – we start by looking for Athena?" said Del uncertainly.

"That could take forever," I said. "How many universities are there in America anyway?"

"Nashville!" Dottie blurted out of nowhere. Everybody turned to her and she went on: "We've got an exact copy of the Parthenon in Nashville," she said 'we' because she's from Tennessee. "It's even got a replica of Phidias' statue inside. That's where you'll find your sign."

Del, Threnody and I looked at each other and shared shrugs. It seemed as good a place to start as any.

Just about then a satyr knocked on the door and told Lee we could resume our usual schedule but the volleyball tournament, sing-alongs, capture the flag and other group activities were cancelled until further notice. The rest of the cabin went to the archery butts while Del, Threnody and I tried to decide what to pack.

Weapons of course were a given; bows, quivers of arrows, spears for Del and me and a short sword for Threnody. Then there was money; all of us had been given mortal cash by our mothers and Dad's always handing out drachmas with his face on them. Medical kits with individual dose sized bottles of nectar and brownie sized ambrosia squares. Changes of underwear, toothbrushes, toothpaste, handi-wipes (questing is a dirty business) and of course our birthday presents.

Dad has this tradition of giving his kids a magical gift on the birthday before they first go to camp as a sort of a gentle hint that he's not normal and neither are we. They're always extremely cool and useful. Del's was an eta-pod with Dad's greatest hits on it; music to cracks stone, charm animals; build walls etc. My present was a golden arrow that could drive through anything including solid rock and reappeared in my quiver after it was shot. Threnody's was a golden pitch-pipe which didn't seem to do anything but what you'd expect. Still it was from Dad and I was ready to bet it did _something_ fantastic even if Threnody wasn't. I mean it took Helice two years to discover her pretty crystal necklace cast holographic illusions.

Del decided to leave right away enthusiastically seconded by Threnody and me, camp was no longer a place you wanted to be. So about three o'clock that afternoon Argus – yes _the_ Argus, the one with the hundred eyes – got out the camp's white SUV and Apollo cabin assembled in front of the Big House to see us off.

"Good luck, guys," Lee said shaking Del's hand, then mine, then Threnody's. "Take care and come back. I'd really hate to have to use the shrouds we're going to make."

"We'd hate that too," Del answered.

Xander already looked sick with worry, "Thanks a lot, Lee," I said and hugged my twin. "I'm gonna be fine, little brother."

"Little? I'm taller than you are!" he shot back but his heart wasn't in it.

There wasn't much else to be said so we climbed into the SUV. Just as Argus got it into gear Del shot his head out the window to call back to the others; "I almost forgot – Dad said to tell you guys there are going to be a lot more quests. Everybody's going to get a shot."

"Really?" I asked as he pulled his head back inside.

"Yeah," he frowned a little. "I got a bad feeling about this. I don't think Dad's giving us quests just so we can be real heroes."

"Me either," I said.


	5. We Hit The Capital of Country Music

Argus drove us to JFK where we bought three tickets for Nashville. I said all three of us had money but that wasn't quite right. Del and I had cash – a hundred dollars apiece – Threnody had a credit card. Yes you heard correctly, my thirteen year old sister had a _credit card_ and not just any card but a _gold_ card! I was _so_ jealous but of course Sassy Jones is loaded and obviously nowhere near as strict as my mom. Still it meant no financial worries which is no small thing on a 21st century quest. We landed in Nashville around eight o'clock, just as the last light was fading from the sky. Apollo's kids aren't narcoleptic or anything but we are not at our best at night so it made sense to take a hotel room and get some sleep. That's where I came in.

Registering at a hotel when you're underage is a total pain. Usually the clerk calls out the manager and they both ask a lot of questions that can be really hard to answer honestly – and since Dad is the god of Truth, along with all his other jobs, his kids make terrible liars. In fact some of us, like Del, can't lie at all. I try but I'm horribly unconvincing and Threnody is even worse.

Luckily I happen to have a perfectly genuine driver's license which gives my age as eighteen instead of sixteen. As near as I can figure somebody misread the nine at the end of my birth year as a seven. What can I say, I have lousy handwriting. Of course Xander and I immediately saw the utility of this little mistake and did _not_ point it out to Mom.

I handed over the card when they asked for ID and everything was copacetic. It was slightly awkward that we all had different last names but I explained we were half-siblings – which is perfectly true – and followed that up by asking if they had a brochure for the Parthenon which they did. It seems it's one of Nashville's big tourist attractions along with country music.

We went up to our room sat down on the door side bed and unfolded the brochure between the three of us. In addition to a lot of useless information about when and how the Nashville Parthenon had been built, who had gilded the statue, nada, nada, nada, it had a floor plan and the hours which were 9.00 am to 4.30.

"Perfect," said Del. "We can scout the place out when it's open and go back for the real search after four thirty."

"Sounds like a plan," I said and we went to bed feeling pretty optimistic about the first phase of our quest. We should have known better.

….

"Okay, now that is impressive!" Del said. The three of us stood in a row taking in the front of the Parthenon, all clean and white except for the brightly colored reliefs.

"Sure beats Dad's temple at home," I agreed.

We had no interest in the art galleries excavated underneath the temple. We weren't there for American paintings. We went up the long flight of steps and through these hugely tall cast bronze doors. The inside was full of mortal tourists and looming over them…

"Wow," said Threnody. "Look at the bling!"

The copy of Phidias' statue was disappointing. I mean sure a forty foot statue dripping gold leaf is sparkly and all that but it was thick, heavy and not at all beautiful.

"Doesn't look anything like Aunt Athena," said Del. He's met her. She likes his mom being all in favor of women running their own businesses. Athena's like the patron goddess of women's lib.

"She's made up like a forties starlet!" said Threnody and she wasn't kidding. The big square face looked like it was wearing dark red lipstick and much too much eyeliner.

The displays in the aisles behind the columns were no more exciting. I don't get why mortals think so much of broken Greek sculptures, and these weren't even the real deal just plaster replicas. I mean why bother?

The Treasury, the room behind the one with the statue, was better with models of the figures on the two pediments and some downright unnerving griffin statues like the ones on the statue's helmet.

We took a good look at everything then went out to get lunch at a Japanese Steakhouse next to the park and talk over what Athena's clue was likely to be and the best places to look for it not that we got very far with that. We didn't know whether we were looking for a note, a magic tool of some kind or what. Threnody suggested the clue could be something in the reliefs but none of us could remember seeing any statues of Dad or even a mention of his name.

We still had a lot of time to kill after eating so we took a walk through the streets near the park. There wasn't much of interest; office buildings, restaurants, hotels – boring. Then we spotted a dirty old storefront wedged into the ground floor of a mid-rise. It didn't look like it belonged there which should have warned us but it was our first quest and we had an hour or more to kill before getting back to the Parthenon.

The sign in the dirty window said 'Toys and Notions' (and you'd think the fact we could read the sign would definitely have warned us!) but it should have read 'Junk', quite interesting junk really. There was a dusty old merry-go-round horse, a number of creepy marionettes, a doll house that looked like it belonged to Wednesday Addams, carnival masks that could scar a kid for life, and tables of costume jewelry.

"See anything you like, dearie?" A cracked old voice asked at my shoulder and I turned around to look down at the ugliest old lady I'd ever seen in my life – and Half-bloods know ugly old ladies!

"Um, uh," I gulped. The others were no help, they were in shock too.

"I think your little sister will like this," the hag said turning towards the dollhouse. And there was another warning. We don't look anything alike - except for the eyes – so how did she know we were siblings? She took out a tiny grand piano, all glossy black with keys the size of seed pearls, and it began to play.

We all moved closer to listen to the tiny, tinkling tune. It tugged at my brain, just on the edge of recognition. Del was every bit as fascinated but Threnody had more resistance maybe because of her own music magic.

She saw what was happening and pulled out her pitch pipe which she was wearing on a chain around her neck. "I think it's a little out of tune," she said unnecessarily loudly then blew an A-sharp that went right through our brains breaking the spell.

We all jumped back and the old lady swelled larger with her body reshaping into some kind of scaled and clawed four legged beast with her still human face getting even uglier which I wouldn't have believed possible.

"Look out, she's a lamia!" Del shouted reaching for his spear.

I should explain that we were fully armed with bows, quivers, spears or sword and yes we were walking public streets in broad daylight but it was okay because Dad is very helpful about magical camouflaging. Threnody and I were wearing our bows as barrettes and our quivers and spear and sword as charms. Del's spear is disguised as a mechanical pencil – he just clicks to change it – and he carries bow and quiver miniaturized in his pocket protector. He's so cute it doesn't matter if he looks nerdy.

The close quarters of the store were clearly no place for archery and spears weren't much better. Del and I would have been in serious trouble if we hadn't had agile little Threnody and her short sword along. The lamia jumped atop the jewelry table scattering rhinestones in all directions. Del took advantage of the clear shot to throw his spear. It stuck in her butt which is not a fatal wound even with celestial bronze. She snarled and disappeared behind some shelves.

"Let's get out of here!" I suggested while the getting was good.

"We can't," Threnody called from over by the door, "It's locked!"

The lamia charged me just then, dodged my spear thrust at her eye and knocked me on my back. I heard Threnody scream as I pushed that hideous face away from my throat then suddenly the lamia rolled off me and I sat up to find myself sitting up next to a pile of sand which is what monsters turn into when you kill them and yes, that is very convenient. Threnody was standing over me with her sword in her hand and a dazed look on her face.

"Nice going, little sister!" Del said enthusiastically picking himself up out of the wreckage of the antique toy chest he'd fallen into trying to charge to my rescue.

"Yeah," I wheezed, still getting my breath back. "You were fantastic, Thren!"

"Breaking that music spell was brilliant -" Del went on.

"I told you that pipe would be good for something!" I interrupted.

"And then you save Laurel and kill your first monster!" Del swept our little sister up in a hug. "I am _so_ glad to have you for a companion!"

"Yeah," I agreed taking my turn with the hugs. "I am so proud of you, honey. And Dad will be too." She smiled feebly but she was shaking.

"What do you say we go to that Wendy's for some ice cream?" Del suggested tactfully. I don't know about you girls but my nerves need some calming!"


	6. The Capital of Country Music Hits Back

Thanks to the fight with the lamia, and the ice cream to settle our nerves we didn't get back to the Parthenon until after it had closed. The tourists had all wandered off to see other sights or grab some dinner and the big temple stood lonely bathed in the golden light of the westerning sun. I couldn't resist a look over my shoulder at the solar Maserati. Dad gave me a big grin and a thumbs-up. Well somebody thought we were doing well anyway.

Del dialed 'music to open doors by' on his _eta_-pod and fiddled with the treble. There was a click from inside the twenty-odd foot tall bronze doors then one swung open just wide enough of us to slip through. So there we were, all alone in the dimly lit interior with the plus sized statue of our father's second favorite sister and no idea what to do next.

Del took a deep breath. It was his quest, he was in command. "Okay, look for something related to Dad; a figure, an inscription, anything at all."

Threnody headed for one aisle and I took the other working my way slowly towards the big statue carefully reading every word of the boring signs posted underneath the plaster fragments. Two pretty nice horse heads were labeled as coming from the chariot of Helios on the East Pediment of the original Parthenon. Not Dad himself but close, I opened my mouth to shout for Del – and the doors slammed all the way open with this deep metallic bong. At almost the same time Threnody screamed. I snatched my bow out of my hair and pulled my golden arrow off my charm bracelet as I came around a pillar. Del and Threnody had their own bows out and nocked and I could sure see why and why my little sister had screamed.

A Drakonae stood, weaving slightly, silhouetted against the pale eastern sky. Okay, time out for a quick lesson in monster recognition: A Drakon is like a dragon only bigger and more powerful. Drakonae are Drakons that are also part woman. This one was absolutely huge, pretty much filling the twenty-four foot high doorway, and had a woman's arms, shoulders and head with a second reptilian head growing out of the top of it – talk about hideous!

Del gulped "Echidna?"

I almost groaned out loud. Oh gods, how did we deserve this?

The snake head hissed and the woman's head snarled, "That crone! I am Poine!"

"Nice going, Del," I muttered easing closer to my siblings. "Make her mad."

"Like it'll make a difference?" Threnody countered.

Good point. Poine darted her heads at us like, well, a striking snake. We all loosed arrows. Del and Threnody's bounced right off her tough hide but my golden arrow went right through her human head. Too bad she had another – head that is.

Del dragged Threnody and me behind Athena's statue. We pressed up close to her gilded skirts while Poine thrashed and hissed on the other side.

"I just had a horrible thought," I said when I got my breath back. "Del, Poine has history with Dad."

He gave me the glassy eye. "Oh gods, you mean _she_ might be the clue?"

We didn't get a chance to discuss it further because at that moment Poine's serpent head poked itself over Athena's shoulder and breathed a cloud of greenish poison gas down at us. We held our breaths and ducked around the statue with Poine snaking after us. We ran for the cover of the right colonnade. The Drakonae tried to follow and twined tightly around the forty foot statue as she was, pulled it right off its pedestal.

Phidias' masterpiece crashed to the ground, falling flat on its over painted face and sending up clouds of gold and plaster dust. Oops. Poine slammed into the pillar we were hiding behind and the whole building shook.

"Follow me!" Del shouted and sprinted up the aisle to the door to the treasury. He didn't bother with 'music to open doors by' this time instead he shot off the lock with an explosive arrow.

"That's not going to hold her," I said as he slammed it behind us.

"It's not meant to," he answered, nocking another arrow. "She'll have to come in low and straight, an easy shot. Aim for the eyes or mouth if it's open. Threnody, use your laser arrow. Laurel, has your golden one come back yet?"

I checked, "Yup."

"Good." At which point the door shattered into splinters and a few dozen yard of venomous green Drakonae headed for us low and straight. Like Del said it was an easy shot – for an Apollo kid. Threnody's laser arrow, Del's explosive one and my golden all hit snakes eyes and Poine did the gold sand thing.

We panted.

"Okay," I said at last. "We just destroyed a national monument. And we still don't know what the clue was!"

"You don't really think it was Poine do you?" Threnody asked fastening her bow-barrette back in her hair.

"Gods know," I shrugged and looked at Del. "Spoils maybe?"

"Maybe," he started scuffing through the sandy remains his eyes on the floor.

"Spoils?" Threnody asked uncertainly.

"Spoils of War." I explained, watching Del. "Sometimes monsters leave something behind to remember them by like Medusa's head or the Nemean Lion's pelt or the immortal head of a hydra –"

"Or a Drakonae bezoar stone," said Del stooping to pick something up. We crowded close to see. It looked like a diamond and was big enough to fill Del's palm with irregular facets sending little rainbow sparks to dance over our faces. What it didn't look like was a clue. After a minute of disappointed contemplation Del shoved the stone at me. "Here, it's yours."

"Me?" I said startled. "Hey, we all killed it."

"We all got its snake head but you killed the human head so the spoils are yours. Right, Threnody?"

"Right," said my little sister so I didn't argue any more. An ordinary bezoar stone counters poisons. A Drakonae stone is good against not only poison but any disease going. Xander would love it. He's the better healer of us two.

"Do we go on looking?" I asked letting my lack of enthusiasm show.

"Please say no," Threnody pleaded.

"I'm with you," said Del. "We don't want to be around when the watchman or whoever finds what's left of the statue."

"I just hope Athena isn't mad," I added.

He groaned. "Oh gods, you had to say that."

We made rapid tracks away from the scene of the crime. It was still light but Dad had disappeared under the horizon, thank the gods, we couldn't have faced him just then. Somehow though, we didn't see the lady until we almost ran her down. She was wearing a snappy charcoal gray suit with her black hair in a loose coil on her neck and looked down at us with long stormy gray eyes.

Del gulped. "Aunt Athena!" Oh gods, we were sooo toast! "We're really sorry about the statue -"

She interrupted: "Don't be. It was a miserable likeness and scarcely a thing of beauty. Phidias would have cried if he could have seen it." She folded her arms and gave us the stern gray eye. "I do wonder, however, why having been directed to me for information it occurred to none of you to offer me a prayer?"

My jaw dropped and so did my siblings'. Of course, how could we not have thought of that?

Del closed his mouth, swallowed and said formally; "Gray eyed lady, would you graciously give a clue to three really dumb Half-bloods?"

She laughed and unfolded her arms, "Nicely said, nephew! Come, I will treat you to dinner and we will talk."

Athena took us to a steakhouse on the edge of Vanderbilt University. Judging from the way the hostess greeted her she was a regular. We were taken straight to a secluded table and a waiter appeared like instantly. Athena ordered for us all – hey we eat poisonous fish, we're not picky! – the man left and she steepled her fingers.

"So, children, you require counsel?"

"Yes, please, ma'am," Del answered, still working the humility. "We're hoping you can explain the third part of our prophecy; _After a hecatomb to Apollo the quester brings_; We know Dad has a herd of sacred cattle but we don't know where."

"And we know what a hecatomb is but we can't believe Dad wants a blood sacrifice," I added.

Athena nodded as if pleased; "Well reasoned. The cattle of the sun are in the keeping of Geryon at the Triple G ranch in Texas. Apollo requires that you bring one hundred of the red cattle from the Triple G to his estate on Long Island."

We gaped at her. We really had to stop doing that. "A cattle drive from Texas to New York?" Del sputtered.

"I know quests are supposed to be hard but that's crazy!" said Threnody.

"Just like our Dad," I finished. Athena's eyebrows went up. "That's not disrespect," I added hastily. "He says so himself."

"So he does." She smiled reassuringly, "Your father hopes you will succeed in your quest. Keep open eyes and open minds and I promise you will find a way."

Del shrugged. "Texas, here we come!"


	7. Gone To Texas

We got up with rosy fingered dawn the next morning (by the way whatever you do, do _not_ mention 'rosy fingers' to Eos if you happen to meet her. She may become violent) and bought ourselves three airline tickets to San Antonio Texas.

"Um, why San Antonio?" I asked Del.

"Because the flight leaves in ten minutes," he answered.

"We really have no idea where we're going do we?" said Threnody.

"Nope," said our brother.

I'd grabbed a couple of copies of the Nashville paper before boarding so we spent the first part of our flight reading all about the outrage at the Parthenon. The statue was apparently a complete loss – hurray!

"Good thing we got out of Dodge," Del remarked.

"Come on, how would they ever trace it to us?" I argued.

"Look at this," Threnody rustled the paper pointing to a small inside article. "Miss A.P. Devine, a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, has donated fifty thousand towards a new statue." We snickered.

"Let's hope she gets a better sculptor this time around," said Del.

…..

"First thing to do is rent a car," Del said as we came out of the terminal at San Antonio.

"Not rent, buy," said Threnody and Del and I stared at her like she'd gone crazy. "No, seriously guys, what're the chances of it making it to the end of the quest? We total it we pay for it anyway."

Del looked at me. "She's got a point."

So we bought ourselves a Dodge Ram in a bright and sunny orange, figuring if we were going to play cowboy we might as well look the part. The expression on the salesman's face when we said we'd pay up front and Threnody handed over her gold card was seriously hilarious.

"How are you going to explain buying a car to your mom," I asked my kid sister while the guy was processing our payment.

She shrugged. "I'll think of something."

It wasn't exactly a priority. I mean there was always the chance we wouldn't survive to explain. The sales guy came back with Threnody's card. We slung our backpacks in our new Ram and hit the first road west out of town.

"I really hate to bring this up," I said when I'd finished merging. "But Texas is a pretty big place you know."

Del ignored me, leaning out the window and looking up. After a minute he pulled his head back into the cab.

"Did Dad look happy?" I asked.

He snorted. "I guess. He did a victory dance."

"He should watch the road," I said. Yes there is a road up there!

"That must mean we're on the right track," Threnody said hopefully.

"We just don't know where to." I answered.

We'd been rolling along through the cactus and tumbleweed, nice and peaceful, for maybe an hour when out of the blue Threnody screamed; "Laurel, stop!"

Well it was just lucky there was nobody else on the road. I slammed on the brakes and we went into a skid ending in the roadside ditch.

Del had his bow out – it was a wonder he hadn't skewered himself with the arrow – looking madly around for a target. "What? Where?"

"There!" Threnody shrieked pointing.

It was a half dozen of the weirdest looking monsters I'd ever seen, and I've seen a lot of monsters. They had the head and forelegs of horses – well more like Shetland ponies – and believe it or not the wings, claws and feather tail of chicken!

"What the…" words failed Del. Me too, and Threnody. We stood in a row next to the truck, lodged askew in the ditch, bows and arrows hanging at our sides, staring.

"Brother," I said at last, "Sister, we can now say honestly that we've seen _everything._"

"I think we're there," said Threnody.

Sure enough, just a little way down the road we came to a gate. Squinting hard to the keep the letters from floating away I could just make out the words 'Triple G Ranch'. Yup, we were there all right, "Now what?"

Del shrugged. "We follow the dirt road, what else?"

We didn't get very far before we heard the hounds of the Baskervilles' howling in the distance and coming on fast. Then they burst out of a little stand of trees just ahead.

Del knocked up my arrow. "Don't fire!"

"What?"

The dogs, sorry _dog, _stood blocking the road, bristling and growling in stereo with its two heads. Of course after the chicken-ponies this seemed barely worth a blink. The guy who appeared out of the trees a few seconds later on the other hand…

He was about seven feet tall and maybe half as wide across the shoulders and I didn't need the 'Don't Mess With Texas' shirt to tell me taking on this guy was a _bad_ idea for all the white hair long white beard – the big spiked club he was swinging kind of clinched the deal.

"Eurytion right?" said Del. "And that's Orthus. I get it; Triple G – three bodied Geryon!"

"The tenth labor of Heracles," I said. Dad is the god of poetry. There isn't a Greek epic extant we don't have by heart.

"I thought the Heliades guarded the cattle of the sun," said Threnody remembering another epic.

Eurytion snorted. "They got fired after the business with Odysseus. What you want here, Half-bloods?"

"I'm Delos Archer, son of Apollo, and these are my companions Laurel Fleetwood and Threnody Jones, daughters of Apollo. We're on a quest for our father's cattle."

"Well you've come to the right place," Eurytion admitted, rubbing the back of his big red neck. "But the boss ain't going to just take your word for it. We can't hand out cattle of Apollo to anybody who asks."

"We understand. Can we see him?"

"Sure. It's your funeral." Not the happiest choice of words there.

The ranch house was all sleek and modern, built of white stone, natural wood and glass like Dad's place at Malibu. We found Geryon lounging across three lawn chairs on the stone flagged terrace. He was built like Siamese triplets with one head and one pair of really big legs and two big beefy arms and how he got a shirt on his middle torso I couldn't even guess.

He heard Del out then heaved himself onto his XXXL cowboy boots. "Fine, come along, kiddies and I'll show you some of your daddy's cattle."

Geryon did not drive a Dodge Ram, or any other kind of truck, instead he loaded us into this totally embarrassing kiddie train. The three passenger cars were painted black and white like Holstein cows and there was a pair of long horns mounted on the hood of the driver's car. Let's just say it didn't at all go with the aesthete of the house!

Orthus acted like a typical dog, two headed or no, jumping in next to Geryon, barking happily and sniffing the air. Eurytion wedged himself into the back car, propped his club on the seat next to him and pulled down his cowboy hat like he was going to nap. And all three of us just fit into the car behind Geryon who immediately launched into what sounded like a much practiced spiel:

"We have a huge operation here; horses and cattle mostly, but all sorts of exotic varieties, too."

"We saw the chicken ponies," I said.

He laughed. "The Hippalektryons? Very rare, and the eggs -" he smacked his lips. "You haven't lived until you've tasted the omelettes they make!"

"Yeah, right," Del tried. "About Apollo's cows -"

Geryon ignored him. "If you look to your left you'll see one of our star attractions the horses of Diomedes." The wood of their corral was covered by a thick coating of some white stuff. I couldn't figure out what it was until a couple of the horses giving us curious looks snorted out little plumes of flame. Oh, right, asbestos.

"We're impressed," said Del. "Now about those cows -" We rolled over a hill and into a sort of shallow valley twenty or thirty acres across and dotted with hundreds of fat, sleek bright red cattle. Del swallowed a couple of times; "Big herd."

"Yeah, breed like rabbits," Geryon said casually. "You understand I've got to have some kind of proof you are who you say you are before I hand over even one cow, much less a hundred."

"Yeah, yeah, you said." I knew the run up to a challenge when I heard one. "What do you want us to do?"

I swear to the gods he stroked his pencil line of a moustache like he was some old movie villain. "Nothing too difficult," he waved an arm towards a line of trees beyond the pastures. "Just go into that little wood. You'll find somebody there who can identify you for me."

"It's a trap," said Eurytion from under his hat.

Del rolled his eyes at me. "Of course it's a trap. This is a quest _everything_ is a trap. What's your point?"

"No point," Eurytion mumbled, "just an observation."

"Weapons allowed right?" I said to Geryon.

"Oh, absolutely," he beamed with a strong subtext of 'for all the good it'll do you'.

"Fine then," Del climbed out of the car and we followed. "See you later."

"That's the spirit!" said Geryon with a truly evil grin.


End file.
